For Immediate Release 

                                                                                                             October 2, 2002

                                                                                                             For Information, Contact:

                                                                                                                                                Jeff Jones: 518-462-5526 ext. 233

                                                                                                                                                518-265-0719 (cell)

2002 Environmental Voters’ Guide Released

EPL/Environmental Advocates Announces Annual and Term Scores for State Legislators

Governor Pataki’s Environmental Record Reviewed

Annual Awards Announced

Available on the Web at: www.eany.org (Click on Voters’ Guide)

(Albany, N.Y.) – Partisan politics and a high incumbency retention rate were blamed today by EPL/Environmental Advocates for the state Legislature’s poor environmental showing during the 2002 session. “Conventional wisdom holds that election years should offer great promise for environmental accomplishment,” said EPL/Environmental Advocates Executive Director Val Washington. “With support for environmental protection generally strong among New York voters, it would seem that most lawmakers would want to demonstrate their environmental credentials close in advance of their constituents going to the polls.

“But New York has one of the highest incumbency success rates in the country,” Washington continued, “and that, combined with a particularly hostile and partisan atmosphere between the parties and limited opportunity for individual legislators to rock the boat, assures that election years are actually pretty quiet.”

Of the hundreds of bills affecting New York’s environment introduced this year, only 12 passed both houses of the Legislature and made it to the Governor’s desk. Important successes included a prohibition on the sale of lead sinkers, a requirement for dentists to recycle elemental mercury and dental amalgam waste generated in their practices, a ban on the use of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) pressure treated lumber on children’s playgrounds, a clean and hybrid vehicle tax credit and revision of the state tax code to encourage the redevelopment of New York’s rail freight infrastructure. These are real achievements, and are appreciated by all who care about public health and the state’s environment.

Unfortunately, too much was still undone when state lawmakers left Albany, most of them to their re-election campaigns. The state Superfund remains unfunded, with hundreds of toxic sites and untold numbers of potential new sites – like Defiance Asphalt in Fort Edward – polluting their communities. New York remains the only industrialized state in the nation without a comprehensive brownfields policy, hamstringing re-development efforts in urban areas and contributing to sprawling growth in the suburbs and the loss of valuable agricultural lands. Despite a serious fire at a waste tire dump right here in the Capital Region last February, action on a widely supported bill to address the millions of waste tires in dumps across the state never materialized. Despite a looming deadline at the end of the year, no reforms have been made to Article X, the law that governs the siting of new power plants. And, in this year’s budget, $235 million was raided from the dedicated state Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), money that had been earmarked for open space acquisition, farmland preservation, parks, recycling, breast cancer research and a host of other projects that depend on the EPF.

“We call on the Governor and the Legislature to return to Albany,” Washington said. “If not before the election, then in a special session immediately afterward. They left too much unfinished business behind.”

Governor Pataki’s Environmental Leadership

From his earliest days as Governor, George Pataki has positioned himself as a national leader on environmental issues. And he has explicitly modeled himself after another famous Republican environmental leader, Teddy Roosevelt, who is remembered for ultimately causing 230 million acres of federal land to be set aside for conservation and park purposes. This kind of grand linkage both raises expectations and invites scrutiny.

Teddy Roosevelt, the first American President to actually ride in a car, did not have to face many of the environmental hazards, like toxic dumps and smog-producing motor vehicles, created by the polluting profligacy of the American Century that he began. Washington noted that New York benefits from Pataki’s identification with the former New Yorker and President. “The preservation of land as a public trust is still a critical element of environmentalism,” Washington said, “and Pataki has continued the tradition initiated by TR.” The announcement that New York will protect 44,650 acres in the Tug Hill Plateau through a partnership with The Nature Conservancy was a high point of the year.

But Pataki has not delivered on his promise to save the state Superfund, New York’s most important toxic site cleanup program. He has not worked effectively with the Legislature and environmentalists to develop a comprehensive brownfields program. And he has yet to complete the work of his Greenhouse Gas Task Force. The Task Force report was originally scheduled to be released in late Spring. The Governor himself raised expectations when he announced its formation more than a year ago. His failure to release the recommendations of the Task Force upon the completion of its work was extremely disappointing to many of the group’s members. Recommendations of Task Force members included a proposal to cap carbon pollution from power plants and other readily achievable initiatives to control industrial and vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide pollution – the primary sources of greenhouse gases.

Washington also called on Governor Pataki to use his experience and prestige to counter and contest the damage being done to the nation’s environment by President George W. Bush and his Administration. “While responsibility for implementation of environmental policy has been devolving to the states over the decades, President Bush has effectively made the states the first line defenders of our air, water and natural resources,” Washington said. “For our Governor, these burdens compound the mighty challenge posed by the reputation he himself has chosen to pursue.”

Environmental Heroes

Two individuals were honored in the Voters’ Guide for their accomplishments.

Sister Pat Daly, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment was recognized as the Environmentalist of the Year. The Tri-State Coalition works as part of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of 275 Protestant, Catholic and Jewish congregations working to empower shareholders to influence corporate behavior. In April, a Tri-State sponsored resolution, calling on General Electric to disclose the amount of money the company has spent on legal fees, public relations and other delaying tactics to avoid its legal responsibility to clean up the Hudson River, garnered over 20 percent of the votes at the company’s annual meeting.

Joe Kralovich, of Freeport, Long Island, was honored with a Green Courage award for leading the fight to close a polluting, diesel-fired power plant in his community. Kralovich, through the Old Lindenmere Civic Association, led a decade-long battle against the plant. It ended this year with an agreement among the community, the Long Island Power Authority and Governor Pataki to build two new natural gas-fired generators at the site.

Environmental Lawmakers 100 Percent of the Time

Lawmakers’ annual scores are based on the percentage of times they cast the correct environmental vote on the floor of the Senate or Assembly. Bills are weighted on a scale of one to three, three trees being the highest rating and three smokestacks being the lowest. One, two or three trees are good ratings; one, two or three stacks are bad. Twenty bills – 17 good/3 bad – were voted on in the Senate. Sixty-four bills – 61 good/3 bad – reached the Assembly floor for a vote.

Four elected officials received special recognition in the Voters’ Guide for having perfect 100 percent voting records in this year’s legislative session. The four, all members of the Assembly’s Democratic majority, are: Steve Englebright (Setauket), Deborah Glick (Manhattan), John J. McEneny (Albany) and Helene E. Weinstein (Brooklyn). In addition, Democract Jeffrey Dinowitz (Bronx) and Republicans Philip M. Boyle (Bay Shore) and John J. Flanagan (Northport) also had perfect scores, although with excused absences.

Overall, the average Assembly score was 92 percent. The Average Democrat score was 95 percent, the average Republican score was 88 percent. William Magee (Oneida) had the lowest score of any Democrat at 78 percent. The lowest Republican score was earned by Pat Casale (Rensselaer), with a 76 percent.

The average Senate score was 77 percent. In the Senate, the average Democrat score was 87 percent and the average Republican score was 71 percent. Democrat Toby Ann Stavisky (Flushing) had the highest Senate score at 95 percent. Vincent J. Gentile (Brooklyn) was had the lowest score among Democrats at 74 percent. Among Republicans, James J. Lack (Happauge) scored highest, at 85 percent, while James L. Seward (Oneonta) was lowest at 63 percent.

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